He gave me a choice: allow security to escort me out and cease all contact with employees of the firm, or be fired for cause and struggle to ever get hired somewhere else.
I knew I could probably prove my side of things. I could show them my versions of the conversation with Meg, I could get proof of all the calls Kyle had made and text messages he抎 sent. But I抎 be blowing up any chance of salvaging my own career to do it.
I let myself be escorted out, under all those disdainful gazes. Meg抯 eyes met mine and I summoned all my hatred into that final look I gave her. She was just a pawn, but I抎 never forgive her for it. I抎 never forgive any of them.
Men with power had made this happen. Men just like my father, and the lawyers who railroaded my mother. They helped each other, covered for each other, did whatever was necessary to keep their little circle closed.
And they抮e apparently still doing it.
44
Ben抯 in a rush the next morning, the day before our first round of depositions. He抯 fully dressed while I抦 still blinking myself awake.
揇o we need to talk about the thing from last night??I ask him. He swings yesterday抯 jacket over his shoulder. 揧eah,?he says, giving me a too-small smile, 揵ut not right now.?
When I get into the office, I go to my Pinterest travel page. I did have a Fiji trip on there. The link shows me an open-air villa with a large white bed, an entire open wall facing the sea.
Two days ago, it felt like a real possibility. Now, I抦 not sure.
I open my email and discover Sophia has sent me photos of what is supposedly her diary, each entry detailing an incident of abuse. She says Evan hit her one night and that he threatened to kill her and the kids more than once. I抦 so scared of him, she writes in one entry. I just want the kids to be safe.
Except it抯 dated two weeks before the trip she took to an Arizona spa, and you don抰 leave your kids for the weekend with someone you mistrust to that extent. She抎 certainly have mentioned some of this before now.
I抎 like to discuss it with Ben, but everything has to be tabled until we get through tomorrow and he抯 so busy it抯 early evening before I even see him.
揝orry,?he says. 揑 didn抰 intend to be gone for so long. You probably haven抰 come up for air once.?
揑 took a little break to look up trips to Fiji,?I tell him with a nervous smile, testing the water.
He winces. It抯 a half-second at most, but I see it. I turn away, distractedly shuffling through files. Inside, though, more bricks are added to the wall I wanted to rebuild the night he slept at his own place, the one I started building in earnest last night when he suggested I抎 stalked someone.
I could ask him if the conversation with Fields has changed things between us, but why would I bother? It抯 obvious it has.
The depositions begin early the next morning in a conference room at the Ritz-Carlton.
The first witness, Michelle Mitchell桭iducia抯 only female manager梙as clearly been coached, so she doesn抰 offer us a single useful word. Every question is answered with, 揑 don抰 remember?or 揘ot to the best of my knowledge.?
Next up is Ryan Venek, who acknowledges he was in a fist fight with another employee and still got promoted. He also admits that yes, there抎 been some trips to strip clubs on the company抯 dime.
Lauren is next. She attests to the strip club outings, and says she was told she could only come if she was, 搘illing to take it all off.?
I produce receipts from two of the clubs, which show the charges billed to a corporate card. 揥ere these two of those nights??I ask, and she says they were. She names every employee she remembers attending. It抯 a long list.
I抳e already warned her that Aronson is going to do his best to make her doubt herself, but her shoulders sag as he asks about her affair with another employee, references a party where she drank too much, an inappropriate comment made about her boss抯 attire. I complain about the relevance of the questions to no avail. Nonetheless, Aronson is a lot less smug when it concludes.
Our final witness is Rick Sandburg, the vice president who charged $15,000 at Magnolia抯 Adult Playhouse.
We ask the basic questions about his role, his length of employment. I抦 already smiling because I can feel it coming: the moment when Aronson realizes how much worse this is going than he thinks.
I ask about the company outings to Magnolia抯。 He claims not to remember until I produce a photo of him getting a lap dance there.
揑 charged it to the company card,?he then says, 揵ut I paid them back.?
揝o, if I were to subpoena your bank records,?I continue, still smiling, leaning forward, 揑抎 find a check to Fiducia for over fifteen thousand dollars? Let me remind you that lying under oath is a felony with a prison sentence of up to five years.?